Lucknow/Prayagraj, The All India Muslim Personal Law Board is likely to challenge the Allahabad High Court’s dismissal of a petition seeking permission for a student to wear a hijab or headscarf with the school uniform.
The petitioner is a minor student of the private Tagore Public School, Attarsuiya, Prayagraj. “There is absolutely no issue with adhering to a prescribed dress code. But what if at the same time a girl student wants to follow her religious obligations? The bench noted that it had perused photographs from various classes and found that except the petitioner, no other girl student was wearing a headscarf, “even those belonging to the same religious community as the petitioner. The state opposed the plea, with Additional Chief Standing Counsel Girijesh Kumar Tripathi submitting that the school was a private unaided institution and was not subject to the state’s jurisdiction in regulating its internal administration, including uniform. Counsel for the Central Board of Secondary Education, Alok Tiwari, supported the state’s submissions and argued that the petitioner is not entitled to the relief sought.
She is seeking admission to class 11 at the same school.
We feel that the court decision needs to be reviewed,” he said. “There is no pleading or authoritative religious text or material placed on record, sufficient by itself to establish that the practice asserted by the petitioner about the obligation to wear a scarf inside the classroom is obligatory upon her and the non-observance thereof would alter the fundamental character of her faith,” the court said. Tripathi said prescribing a uniform is a matter of school policy and does not violate the fundamental right to practise, profess or propagate religion.
